Startups focus on social change
MaGIC is honing 29 startups to make the country a better place.
MalaYsIan Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) unveiled 29 startups focused on societal change from the first cohort of its Idea accelerator Programme.
MaGIC chief executive officer ashran Ghazi says there is a rise in the number of entrepreneurs in the business addressing societal and environmental challenges such as poverty, unemployment, education gap and pollution.
“Impact driven enterprises and social enterprises offer potential solutions to the challenges, creating jobs for entrepreneurs at every level of society and are a catalyst for inclusive growth and development,” he said during the demo day at MaGIC’s headquarters in Cyberjaya.
The early-stage impact driven enterprises (Ides) and social enterprises (ses) focused on one of five aspects – employment for the marginalised community, income and productivity growth for the B40 community, equality and empowerment, pollution and waste management, and community development.
among the startups are active60 which provides flexible working arrangements for retirees; Gading emas Venture which helps local communities generate income via lobster farming; Opis, a coworking space with a childfriendly environment for parents; Buntle which produces pillows from shredded waste cloth from bundle clothing stores; ellusion strategy which works with government agencies to safely recycle e-waste; locarbon solutions which provides cost effective energy saving solutions to companies; and Uniforms 4 Us, which provides jobs and school uniforms for disadvantaged persons.
MaGIC hopes its programme will help balance economic growth with the betterment of society while protecting the environment.
and it says this will also help the country meet the United nations’ sustainable development Goals, a call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Malaysia social Inclusion & Vibrant entrepreneurship (Massive) programme director Wan dazriq Wan Zulkiflee says that he has faith in the startups even though they are still in the early stages.
The startups underwent six weeks of intensive training so they can be moulded into profitgenerating entities that can tackle long-term socio-economic disparity and champion a more people-centric Malaysia, said Wan dazriq.
The programme received 233 applications but only 29 were selected. The participants were mostly female (67%) and 90% of them were under the age of 40.
They were mentored by 500 startups, KPMG, deloitte, social enterprise academy, Pembinaan Tetap Teguh, leaders’ Quest and Petrosains.